


Beauty Queen

by PandoraTheExplorer



Series: Month of Drabbles Challenge 2018 [7]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, drew tanaka deserved more character, idk if she actually dies in canon but she's not mentioned again after hoo so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-14 23:35:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16050890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandoraTheExplorer/pseuds/PandoraTheExplorer
Summary: Drew Tanaka’s thoughts on love.





	Beauty Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Day 7 of my 2018 Month of Drabbles Challenge.

Silena once told Drew that love was like a campfire. It was bright and passionate, warming you to the core. Adding more fuel to it only made it bigger and more beautiful to watch. If someone’s love was too big or if they got too close, they could end up hurting themselves. That was okay. As long as they were careful, a person could bask in the warmth of a passionate love for a long time. Later, when the fire burns out, the glowing hot embers would still leave a feeling of warmth inside.

Drew knew that Silena loved her and all their siblings. She loved Silena too. It was only after Silena fell from a chariot, body engulfed by burning armor and a drakon’s poison, did Drew realized that maybe, just maybe, she had edged too close to the flame.

~

Drew once told her siblings that love was like a stream of fireworks. It was beautiful to gawk at from a distance, but stand within a few feet of it and you’d get gunpowder in your eye and smoke in your hair. Love is dramatic and quick, beginning in an instant and disappearing a moment after. If you could figure out how to control it, you’d make a good light show. Sure you could reminisce about how good of a color the sparks were, but when you could set off the next stream of fireworks, it’s fine to just forget about the last one.

Drew didn’t know what she felt for her siblings. She told herself it didn’t matter what her siblings felt for her either, as long as they did as she said. When Piper Mclean took the position of cabin counsellor from her, Drew willed herself not to cry as the other Aphrodite campers cheered at her resignation. Why should she? If the beautiful Drew Tanaka burnt out her love in just a few months, surely it wouldn’t be long before Piper Mclean did, too.

~

Drew had expected Piper to hate her. She expected the worst of the chores and to wear the Shoes of Shame every day until the end of next summer. However, Piper just treated her like any other camper. She never got any special treatment, good or bad. It was like Piper-and the rest of her siblings too, it seemed-didn’t even notice she existed. Drew wasn’t sure if she preferred this over being made to scrub dishes with lava.

~

Drew had confronted her siblings about it. One day, she sat next to Lacy and Mitchell during archery practice and together they watched Will Solace show Piper the proper way to hold a bow. Lacy gave her a smile and Mitchell gave her a wave. Drew liked to think that she would have sat down with them even if they didn’t welcome her. She didn’t need their permission, after all.

“So how are you guys finding Piper as a counsellor?” Drew half-muttered. Lacy and Mitchell looked at each other in desperation.

“I think she’s doing fine so far,” Lacy stuttered.

“Yeah,” Mitchell mumbled, “She’s very nice to everyone. Very fair.”

“You don’t have to lie through your teeth like that,” Drew snapped, “I’m not in charge of you anymore anyway. I know you guys hated me. You all must be SO excited to fall all over Mclean’s feet now that your new counsellor’s much less of a bitch.”

Mitchell held up his hands in defense. “We don’t hate you, Drew, I swear in our mom’s name!”

“Yeah!” Lacy added, “You weren’t a bitch-“

“Yeah I was,” Drew said.

“Yeah you were,” Lacy agreed, “But we don’t want to hold a grudge. Aphrodite’s all about love, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t like how you ran things when you were counsellor,” Mitchell said, “but I want to forgive you.” He stuck out his hand. “Can we all just start over again and be friends?”

Drew glared at Mitchell’s outstretched hand and batted it away. “Don’t bother,” she hissed, “You’re mocking me. I don’t need your forgiveness. You’re just making a fool out of yourself.” She stood up and walked away.

“Isn’t love supposed to be precious?” she called as she left, “Why would you give away something so precious to someone who doesn’t deserve it?”

~

Piper and her crew left for California in June. Drew, by default, was made counsellor of Cabin 10 again. The first thing she did was demand that all Tristan Mclean posters went back to the trash bins where they belonged. She caught herself wondering why she still felt the need to carry out that petty grudge with a girl whose only real fault was to be interested in the boy that Drew had found mildly attractive for about a day after she met him. She shook away that thought. So what if she just wanted to be petty? It wasn’t as if people would love her either way. No one has loved her for a long time. Not since her fireworks burned out. Not since she edged too close to the campfire. Not since Silena.

~

The Athena Parthenos stood proudly on top of Half-Blood Hill, its golden shield reflected off the sunlight and Drew wasn’t sure if she was supposed to feel warmth in her heart that she hadn’t felt for a long time. Someone yelled for her to attack so she did. Somewhere along the way, she ended up beside Lacy and Mitchell. Lacy glanced at her. Mitchell gave her a nod. Drew gave no response and the three siblings kept on fighting.

At some point, Drew heard Lacy cry out and saw her and start to jump. Mitchell yelled and wrapped his arm around Lacy’s chest, holding her back. It wasn’t until Drew found herself lying on the ground with an arrow sticking out of her chest that she realized what was happening. Lacy had tried to jump in front of an arrow for her. Mitchell held her back. Lacy, who was strong enough to break free of her brother’s grip, had let him hold her back.

Drew wasn’t surprised. Of course, the arrow in her body was surprising, but she expected that Lacy wouldn’t give her life for her and Mitchell wouldn’t let her give her life. After all, you would have to love someone very much to die in their place, and Drew didn’t think she deserved that much love from anyone.

Lacy and Mitchell were sitting beside her, holding her hand and brushing her hair and cradling her head in their arms. They let their tears fall and said false words like I love you and I’m so sorry but Drew knew they were lies. Lies lies _lies lies lies **lieslies**_ -

~

Drew told herself that love was like a candle. It was soft and didn’t provide much warmth unless you tried really hard to get it. It was malleable and you could shape whichever way you wanted if you worked hard enough. It wasn’t as intense as a lot of people claimed it was, but even the smallest candle could brighten up an entire room.

At first it would seem like the candle would last forever, as long as you didn’t purposely blow it out. But slowly and steadily, the candle would burn away into nothing, and you would be left with cold hands and a cold heart.

As she lay at the base of Half-Blood Hill in a pool of what was either blood, mud, or her siblings’ tears-she wasn’t sure-Drew wondered if she should have appreciated the light that the candle brought to her before it burned out and left her in complete darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> Look as much as I love Uncle Rick I can also admit that his writing of some characters were...flawed...to say the least. Gotta give those characters the proper characterization every fictional character deserves.


End file.
